Company 790

I entered the regular Navy with a brand-new degree in pharmacy in 1951. That made me the oldest man there. As we boarded the train in Indianapolis for Great Lakes Naval Training Center, I was handed the papers of the other new recruits and made responsible for them. We arrived all together at destination sometime around midnight on Saturday night, were assigned a barracks and told to settle in. It was Monday before we really became boots—sending all our "civvies" home—and were issued Navy gear. That Sunbeam razor I was given when I graduated high school I would not use again until I became a real sailor.

Our company chief was a man I came to respect greatly. He had been a young sailor on the USS Tennessee at Pearl Harbor when they took the direct hit in the forward turret, killing all those there and knocking him out from a concussion in the powder room, four decks below. We became good friends. He made me the ACPO, as I was the oldest and had two years of ROTC. Chief got me three days emergency leave to rush to Indianapolis and take my State Board exams. I learned that it was a very unusual happening.

I was faced with a problem early on when one very young boot wet the bed. He was homesick and begged me not to put him on report. I did not, but I did tell him it would not happen again. It did not and he became a good sailor, served on a destroyer, took a hit off the East coast of Korea and was wounded by shrapnel.

We also had a scroungy boot who could not get his bag inspection perfected. His mates settled that after a couple of failed inspections and he got it!

We had only one bad actor who did not graduate with the company. He put the chief on report for "swearing at him." By and large the company was good, performed well, looked sharp in formation and marched perfectly in graduation ceremonies.

I used my Pharmacy skills at Oak Knoll and in the Infirmary at Sangley Point in the Philippines. I am proud I served.